Location and Environment

Location and environment

Blantyre is in the south of Malawi, 16 degrees south of the equator and lies in a depression within the Shire Highlands, 100 metres above sea-level. It is the second largest city in Malawi, but the main industrial and commercial centre in the country. (Lilongwe is the capital and largest city.) Its population is 728,000, making it larger than Glasgow. It is a city of great historical importance and was named after Blantyre in Scotland, the birthplace of Dr David Livingstone.

Scotland and Malawi
There have been strong links between the two countries for more than 150 years. This began with David Livingstone's journey to Malawi in 1859 and has continued to grow ever since with an ever increasing movement of people and ideas between Scotland and Malawi which has continued to benefit both nations. A formal partnership now exists between the two countries (

Chichiri is a district in east Blantyre, most famous for Chichiri Stadium (the main sports stadium) and the glitzy Chichiri Mall (the biggest shopping complex in Malawi). The University of Malawi is also here, as well as colleges and schools.

Climate

Blantyre is within the tropics so it is hot all year. being in the southern hemisphere its lowest temperatures are in July but, even in this month, they average nearly 20°C. The average rainfall is 900 mm per year but most of this falls between December and March. June to September are very dry.

Education

Primary education in Malawi is free but it is not compulsory. It should begin at 5 yrs old. Schools start at Standard 1 and go up to Standard 8, which is the final year of primary. Pupils do not proceed to the next year group automatically, but when they pass the end of year exams. This results in some older children remaining at very early primary school grades for a number of years, and leaving primary education (Standard 8) almost adults. The pupils study in their local language for the first 4 years of primary school after which English is the language used.

A 13 year old in Chichiri Secondary School, Blantyre

A typical 13 year old will be in Form 1 - first year. Very few of his/her primary school classmates will be in the same class. 95% drop out of school because they fail the exams or their parents cannot afford the fees or because they have to work. Parents have to pay fees of £22 per year!.

Lessons are in English, as are textbooks.The national language, Chichewa, and other languages such as French are taught as classroom subjects.Most pupils will walk to school, which starts at 7.30am.There are 9 class periods per day and they learn similar subjects to children in Scotland.School finishes at 3.00pm. Next year they will sit their first national exams, called the Malawian Junior Certificate examination (JCE). (They sit more national exams when they leave school.) The most popular sports are football and netball, but girls’ football and volleyball also take place.Most want to go to college and then get a formal job; only the cleverest aim for university.

The community

Most of the people here are Chewa people and their language, the national language, is Chichewa. Christianity was brought here by missionaries including David Livingstone in the 1800s and most people are Christian Protestants. There are also some Muslims amongst the Yao people.

Standards of living and Quality of life

Blantyre (Malawi) / Glasgow (UK)
Average income per person per year / $848 / $36,901
Life expectancy / 58 years / 80 years
Average number of calories eaten per day / 2130 / 3440
Literacy rate / 75% / 99%

Most houses in Chichiri are made of brick with iron sheets for roofs. 90% of homes have electricity and tap water. Only about 1% of families have cars, but motorbikes and cycles are popular with young people. Most people have mobile phones, which are quite cheap to buy.

Over 10% of the adults are living with HIV/AIDS, which is the main reason why life expectancy is so low.

The area was affected by a severe drought in 2002/3 and many people in the countryside died as a result of this. Rainfall is still very unreliable and farming only gives a very low standard of living.

The Mary’s Meals charity was set up as a response to this drought and Hutchie sponsors the free school meals programme organized by Mary’s Meals in two schools just over 100 kilometres north of Blantyre – Ndandanda primary and Maria Woyera primary.

Ways of life

Blantyre is the biggest industrial centre in Malawi, with shoe factories, drinks companies and tobacco manufacturers. The biggest company near Chichiri is Carlsberg Brewery but, overall, fewpeople in the Chichiri area work in factories and offices (formal jobs). Instead most have informal jobs, helping out in local small businesses.

In the countryside around Blantyre, a lot of tobacco is grown and the tobacco farms are owned by the big tobacco companies of the world. Tobacco is extremely important to Malawi. It is their biggest export. Although the tobacco companies make £billions in profits, the farmworkers barely earn enough to survive.